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HOLLiNGER 



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THE SLAVE OLIGARCHY AND ITS USCRPATIOXS. 



SPEECH 

OF 

BON. CHAKLES SUMNER, 

NOVEMBER 2, 1855, ' 

IN FANEUIL HALL, BOSTON. 



FELLOW-CITIZENS OP^ BOSTON: 

Are you for Freedom, or are you for Slavery? This is the question which 
you are to answer at the coming election. Above all other questions, whetlier 
national or local, it now lifts itself, directly in the path of every voter, and 
calls for a plain and honest reply. There it is. It Qannot be avoided. It can- 
not be banished away. It cannot be silenced. Forever sounding in our ears, 
it has a mood for every hour — stirring us at times as with the blast of a 
trumpet — then visiting us in solemn tones, like the bell which calls to prayer — 
and then again awaking us to our unmistakable duty like the same bell, which 
at midnight summons all to stay the raging conflagration. 

And yet there are persons among us who seek to put this great question 
aside. Some clamor for financial reform, and hold up a tax-bill ; others 
clamor for a modification of the elective franchise, and they hold up the Pope ; 
gome speak in the name of old parties, calling themselves Democrats or Whigs ; 
others in the name of a new party, which shall be nameless at present. Surely 
the people of Massachusetts will not be diverted from the true issue — involv- 
ing Freedom for broad territories and Freedom for themselves — by holding up 
a tax-bill or by holding up the Pope. The people of Massachusetts are intelli- 
gent and humane. They are not bulls, to be turned aside by shaking in their 
eyes a bit of red cloth ; nor are they whales, to be stopped by a tub. The 
pertinacious and exclusive advocacy with which, at this crisis of Freedom, 
humbler matters and even personal aspirations have been pressed, in disregard 
of a sacred cause, finds a prototype in an effort of selfishness, which, occurring 
at the very crisis of our Revolution, was chastised by the humor and eloquence 
of Patrick Henry. The story is familiar. Our small army, contending for 
Freedom, was reduced to the depths of distress — exj^osed almost naked to the 
rigors of a winter sky, and marking the frozen ground with the blood of shoe- 
less feet. " Where is the man," said Patrick Henry, " who would not havo 
thrown open his fields, his barns, his cellars, the doors of his house, the por- 
tals of his breast, to receive the meanest soldier in that little famished band 7 
Where is the man ? There he staiidb ; but whether the heart of an American 
beats in his bosom, you are to judge ! " It was to John Hook that he pointed, 
who was then pressing a vexatious claim for supplies taken for the use of these 
starving troops. " What notes of discord do I hear ? " exclaimed the orator. 
" They are the notes of John Hook, hoarsely brawling through the patriot 
camp — Beef I Beef! Beef! " And now, among us, the selfishness of John 
Hook is renewed, and politicians disturb the hour, as they hoarsely brawl their 
petty claims through our patriot camp. But above all these is heard the great 
question, which will not be postponed, are you for Freedom, or are you for 
Slavery ? " Under which king, Bezonian, speak or die ! " Are you for Free- 
dom, with its priceless blessings, or are you for Slavery, with its countless 
wrongs and woes? Are you for God, or are you for the Devil? 



'^Tc^-^^■y 



Fcllow-Citizeus, I speak plainly ; nor can words exhibiting the cnofttiiiy of 
Slavery be too plain, whether it be regarded simply in the legislative and judi- 
cial decisions by which it is upheld, or in the unquestionable facts by which its 
character is revealed. It has been in\- tbrtune latterly to see Slavery face to 
face in its own home, iu the slave Stales; and I take this early opportunity 
to oiler my testimony to the open barbarism which it sanctions. 1 liave seen 
a human being knocked oil' at auction on the stops of a court-house, and, as 
the sale went on, compelled to open his mouth and show his teeth, like a 
horse; I have been detained in a stage-coach, that our driver might, in the 
phrase of the country, " help lick a nigger ; " and I have been constrained, at 
a public table, to witness tl^e revolting spectack of a poor slave, yet a child, 
almost felled to the Uoor by a blow on the head from a clenched fist. Such 
incidents were not calculated to shake my original convictions. The distant 
slaveholder, who, in generous solicitude for that truth which makes for Free- 
dom, feared that, like a certain Doctor of Divinity, I might, under the influ- 
ence of personal kindness, be hastily swayed from these convictions, may be 
assured that I saw nothing to change them in one tittle, but to confirm them,, 
while I was entirely satisfied that here in Massachusetts, where all read, the 
true character of Slavery is better known than in the slave States theniselves,. 
where ignorance and prejudice close the avenues of knowledge. 

And now, grateful for the attention with which you honor me, I venture to 
hope that you are assembled honestly to hear the truth ; not to gratify preju- 
dice, to appease personal antipathies, or to indulge a morbid appetite for 
excitement ; but with candor and your best discrimination to weigh facts and 
arguments, in order to determine the course of duty. I address myself partic- 
ularly to the friends of Freedom — the Republicans — on whose invitation I 
appear to-night; but I make bold to ask you of other parties, who now listen, 
to divest yourselves for the time of partisan constraint — to forget for the 
moment that you are Whigs or Democrats, or how you are called, and to 
remember only that you arc men, with hearts to feel, Mith heads to understand, 
and with consciences to guide. Then only will you be in a condition to receive 
the truth. '• If men are not aware of the probable bias of party over them, 
then they are so much the more likely to be blindly governed by it. " This is 
the wi.se remark of Wilberforce ; and 1 fear that among us there arc too many 
who are unconsciously governed by such bias. There are men, who, while 
professing cjindor, yet show that the bitterness of party has entered into their 
whole character and lives — as the bitterness of the soil in Sardinia is said to 
appear even in the honey. 

At this election we do not choose a I'resident of the United Stales, or mem- 
ber of Congress, but a Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and 
other Btute officers. To a sujjerficial observer, the occasion seems to be rather 
local than national ; ft seems to belong to State adairs rather than Federal — 
to Massachusetts rather than to the Union. And yet such are our relations to 
the Union — such is the solidarity of these confederate Slates — so are we all 
knit together as a Plural Unit — that the great question which now disturbs 
and overshadows the whole country, becomes at once national and local, 
addressing itself alike to the whole Republic and to each constituent part. 
Freedom in Kansa.i, and our own Freedom here at home, are both assailed. 
Thev must be defended. There are honorable responsibilities belonging to 
Massachusetts, as an early and constant vindicator of Freedom, wliich she 
cannot renounce. " If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare 
himself for the Inittle'.'" The distant emigrant — the whole country — awaits 
the voice of our beloved Commonwealth in answer to the question ^rc jou 
for Freedom, or are you for Slavery? So transcendent, so c- . ,,e. go all- 
absorbing, is this question at the present juncture, that ' vain to speak of 
the position of candidates or other thil^gs. To be .'.ouotful on this is to be 
wrong ; and to be wrong on this is to be wholly wrong. Passing strange it is, 
that here in Massachusetts, in this nineteenth century, we should be constrain- 
ed to put this question. Passing strange, that when shou 



nny hesitation to answer it, by voice and vote, in such way as to speak the 
'loudest for Freedom. 

A plain recital will show the urgency for this question. At the period of 
the Declaration of Independence, upwards of half a million colored persons 
were held as chattels in the United States. These unhappy people were origi- 
nally stolen from Africa, or were the children of those who had been stolen, 
and, though distributed throughout the whole country, were to be found chiefly 
in the Southern States. The Slavery to which they were reduced was 
simply a continua,tion of the violence by which they had been originally rob- 
bed of their rights, and was of course as indefensible. The fathers of the 
Republic, leaders of the war of Independence, were struck Avith the incon- 
sistency of an appeal for their own liberties, while holding in bondage fellowt 
men, only " guilty of a skin not colored like their own." The same conviction 
animated the hearts of the people, whether at the North or the South. Out 
of ample illustrations, I select one which specially reveals this conviction, and 
possesses a local interest in this community. It is a deed of manumission, 
■made after our struggles had begun, and preserved in the Probate records of 
the County of Suffolk. Eere it is : 

"Know all men by these presents, that I, Jonathajj Jackson, of" Newburyport, in the 
couiily of Essex, gentleman, tn consideration of the bnproprieiy I feel, and have long felt, in 
bf-holdim; anij person in constant hondn^e, ?nore especially at a time lehen my country is so ivarml-if 
iontending for the liberty every inan ought to enjoy, and having some time since promised 
my neo-ro man, Pomp, that I would give him his t'reedom. and in further consideration of five 
shillincrs, paid me by said Pomp, I do hereljy liberate, manumit, and set him free; and I do 
hereby remise and release Unto said Pomp, ail demands of whatever nature I have against 
said Pomp. 

•' In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this nineteenth June, 1776. 

•' JONATHAN JACKSON. [Seal.] 

M imess, ^ ;yiiii„^ Noycs." 

Suoh was the general spirit. Public opinion found free vent in every chan- 
nel. By the literature of the time, by the voice of the Church, and by the 
solemn judgment of the College, Slavery was condemned, while all the grand- 
est names of our history were arrayed openly against it. Of these, I might 
dwell on many ; but I am always pleased to mention an illustrious triumvirate, 
from whose concurring testimony there can be no appeal. There was Wash- 
ington, who at one time declared that " it was among his first wishes to see 
some plan adopted by which vSlavery might be abolished by law," and then at 
another, that, to this end, " his suffrage should not be wanting." There also 
was Jefferson, who, by early and precocious efforts for " total emancipation," 
placed himself foremost among the Abolitionists of the land — perpetually 
denouncing Slavery — exposing the pernicious influences upon the master as 
well as the slave — declaring that the love of justice and the love of country 
pleaded equally for the slave, and that " the abolition of domestic Slavery was 
the greatest object of desire." There also was the venerable patriot, Benja- 
min Franklin, who did not hesitate to liken the American master of black 
slaves to the Algerine corsair with his white slaves, and who, as President of 
the earliest Abolition Society — the same of which Passmore Williamson is 
now Secretarj'^by solemn petition, called upon Congress " to step to the very 
verge of the power vested in it to discoxirage every species of traffic in the per- 
sons of our fellow-men." Thus completely, by this triumvirate of Freedom, 
was Slavery condemned, and the power of the Government invoked against it. 

By such men and in such spirit was the National Constitution framed. The 
emphatic words of the Declaration of Independence, which our country took 
upon its lips as baptismal vows, when it claimed a place among the nations of 
the earth, were not forgotten. The preamble to the Constitution renews them, 
when it declares the object of the people of the United States to be, among 
other things, " to establish justice, to promote the general welfare, and to secure 
the blessings of liberty to ourselves and posterity." Thus, according to unde- 
niable words, the Constitution was ordained, not to establish, secure, or sanc- 
tion, Slavery — not to promote the special interest of slave-masters, bound 



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together in oligarchical combination — not to make Slavery national in any 
way, form, or manner, but to "establish justice," which comiemns Slavery — 
" to promote the general w elfare," which rei)uJiatcs every Oligarchy — and " to 
secure tlie blessings of Liberty," in whose presence human bondage must 
cease. Early in the Convention, Gouverneur Morris tiroke forth in the language 
of an Abolitionist: "He never would concur in upholding domestic Slavery. 
It was a nefarious institution. It was the curse of Heaven." In another 
mood, and with mild juridical phrase, Mr. Madison, himself a slaveholder, 
'• thought it wrong to admit in the Constitution the idea of property in man." 
The discreditable words. Slave and Slareri/, were not allowed to find a place in 
the instrument, while a clause was subsequently added by way of amendment, 
and therefore, according to the rules of interpretation, particularly revealing 
the sentiments of the founders, which is calculated, like the Declaratiou of 
Independence, if practically applied, to carry Freedom everywhere within the 
sphere of its influence. It was specifically declared that '■ no person shall be 
deprived of life, liberty^ or proj)erty, tcithuut due process of laiv " — that is, without 
due presentment, indictment, or other formal judicial proceedings. Here is an 
express guard of personal Liberty, and a prohibition of Slavery everywhere 
within the national jurisdiction. 

In this spirit was the National Constitution adopted. In this spirit the 
National Government was first organized under "Washington. And here there 
is a fact of peculiar significance, well worthy of perpetual memory. At the 
time this great chief took his first oath to support the Consfitution of the 
United States, the National Ensign nowhere within the National 'Territory covered 
a single slave. On the sea, an execrable piracy, the trade in slaves, was still, 
to the national scandal, tolerated beneath the national flag. In the States, as 
a sectional institution, beneath the shelter of local laws. Slavery, unhappily, 
found a home. But in the only Territories at this time belonging to the 
Nation — the broad region of the Northwest — it had already, by the Ordimince 
of Freedom, been made impossible, even before the adoption of the Constitu- 
tion. The District of Columbia, with its Fated Dowry, had not yet been 
acquired. 

The original policy of the Republic, begun under the Confederation, and 
recognised at the initiation of the new Government, is clear and unmistakable. 
Compendiously expressed, it was non-intervention by Congress ivith Slavery in 
the Stales, and its prohibition in all the national domain. ■ Thus we reconciled 
all discordant feelings on this subject. Slave-masters were left at home in 
their respective States, without any intervention from Congress, to hug Slavery 
until it stung them to contrition, while the great mass opposed to this 
wrong were properly exempted from any responsibility for it in the national 
domain. 

Most true it is — beyond all question — that our Constitution was framed by 
the lovers of Human Rights ; that it was animated by their divine spirit ; that 
the institution of Slavery was regarded by them with aversion, so that, though 
covertly alluded to, it was not named in the instrument ; that, according to 
the debates in the Convention, they refused to give it any "sanction," or " to 
admit into the Constitution the idea of projicrty in man," while they looked 
forward to tlie certain day when it would be obliterated from the laud. Surely, 
Fellow-Citizens, they did not contemplate any oligarchical combination, con- 
stituting a rnighty Propaganda, such as we now witness, to uphold and extend 
it; nor can any person put his finger on any clause, i)lirase, or word, which 
sanctions any such Propaganda; and, in nniking this assertion, I challenge 
criticism and rejdy. 

But tlie original policy of the Government did not long jirevnil. The gen- 
erous sentiments, which filled the early patri(jts, giving to them historic grand- 
eur, and which 8tam])ed upon the licpublic, as ujion the coin which it lircula- 
ted, the very image and sujierscription of I-iukutv, grailually lost their jxiwer. 
The blessings of Freedom being already secured to themselves, the freemen of 
the land became indiilerent to the freedom of others. They ceased to think 



5 

of the slaves. The slave-masters availed themselves of this indifference, and, 
though few in number, compared with the non-slave-masters, even in the 
slave States, they have, under the influence of an imagined self-interest, by 
the skillful tactics of party, and especially by an unhesitating, persevering 
union among themselves — swaying by turns both the great political parties — 
succeeded, through a long succession of years, in obtaining the mastery of the 
National Government, bending it to their purposes — compelling it to do their 
will, and imposing upon it a policy offensive to Freedom, and directly opposed 
to the sentiments of its founders; while on the forehead of the Republic, once 
beaming with Liberty, they have stamped the image and superscription of 
Slavery. 

The actual number of slaveholders in the country was for a long time 
Unknown, and on this account was naturally exaggerated. It was often rep- 
resented to be very great. On one occasion, a distinguished Representative 
from Massachusetts, whose name will ever be cherished for his devotion to 
Human Rights, the Hon. Horace Mann, was rudely interrupted on the floor of 
Congress by a member from Alabama, who averred that the number of slave- 
holders was as many as three millions. At that time there was no official 
document by which this assumption could be corrected. But at last we have 
it. The late census, taken in 1850, shows that the whole number of this pecu- 
liar class — embracing men, women, and children, all told, who are so unfor- 
tunate as to hold slaves — was only 34'7,000 ; and, of this number, the larger 
part are small slaveholders, leaving only 92,000 persons as the owners of the 
great mass of slaves, and as the substantial representatives of this class. And 
jet this small company — sometimes called the Slave Power, or Black Powef, 
better called the Slave Oligarchy — now dominates over the Republic, deter- 
mines its national policy, disposes of its offices, and sways all to its absolute 
will. Yes, Fellow-Citizens, it is an Oligarchy, odious beyond precedent ; heart- 
less, grasping, tyrannical; careless of humanity, right, or the Constitution; 
wanting that foundation of justice which is the essential base of every civilized 
community; stuck together only by confederacy in spoliation ; and constituting 
in itself a viagnum latrocinium ; while it degrades the free States to the condi- 
tion of a slave plantation, under the lash of a vulgar, despised, and revolting 
overseer. 

There is nothing in the National Government which the Slave Oligarchy 
does not appropriate. It entered into and possessed both the old political par- 
ties. Whig and Democratic — as witness their servile resolutions at Baltimore — 
making them one in subserviency, though double in form ; and renewing ia 
them the mystery of the Siamese twins, which, though separate in body and 
different in name, were constrained by an unnatural ligament to a communit)' 
of exertion. It now holds the keys of every ofiice, from that of President 
down to the humblest postmaster, compelling all to do its bidding. It organ- 
izes the Cabinet. It directs the Army and Navy. It manages every depart- 
ment of public business. It presides over the census. It controls the Smith- 
sonian Institution, founded by the generous charity of a foreigner, to promote 
the interests of knowledge. It subsidizes the national press, alike in the 
national capital and in the remotest village of the North. It sits in the chflir 
of the President of the Senate, and also in the chair of the Speaker of the 
House. It arranges the Committees of both bodies, placing at their head only 
the servitors of Slavery, and excluding therefrom the friends of Freedom, 
though entitled to such places by their character and the States they repre- 
sent; and thus it controls the legislation of the country. 

In maintaining its power, the Slave Oligarchy has applied a test for office, 
very different from that of Jefferson — "Is he honest? Is he capable? Is 
be faithful to the Constitution ? " These things are all forgotten now, in the 
single question, "Is he faithful to Slavery?" With arrogant ostracism, it 
excludes from every national office all who cannot respond to this test. So 
complete and irrational has this tyrant become, that at this moment, while I 
now speak, could Washington, or Jefferson, or Franklin, once more descend 



\' 



from their spheres above, to mingle in our affiiirs and bless us with their wis- 
dom, not one of them, with his recorded unretracUd opinions on Shivery, could 
receive a nomination for the Presidency from either of the political parties 
calling themselves national; nor, stranger still, could cither of these sainted 
patriots, whose names alone open a perpetual fountain of gratitude in all your 
heart?, be confirmed by the Senate of the United States for any political func- 
tion whatever — not even for the office of postmaster. What I now say, amidst 
jour natural astonishment, I have often said before in addressing the people, 
and more than once uttered from my seat in the Senate; and no man there 
has made answer, for no man who has sat in its secret sessions, and there learned 
the test which is practically api)licd, could make answer; and I a?k you to 
accept this statement as my testimony, derived from the experience of four 
years, which has been my lot under the commission which I have received 
from our honored Commonwealth. Yes, Fellow-Citizens, had this test prevail- 
ed in the earlier days, Washington — first in war, first in peace, first in the 
hearts of his countrymen — could not have been created generalissimo of the 
American forces ; Jefferson could not have taken his place on the Committee 
to draft the Declaration of Independence ; and Franklin could not have gone 
forth to France, with the commission of the infant Republic, to secure the 
invaluable alliance of that ancient Kingdom. 

All tyranny, like murder, is foul at the best ; but this is most foul, strange, 
and unnatural, when it is considered that the States, which are the home of 
the Slave Oligarchy, are far inferior to the free States, in population, wealth, 
education, schools, churches, libraries, manufactures, and resources of all 
kinds. By the last census, there was in the free States a solid population of 
freemen amounting to upwards of 13,000,000, while in the slave States there 
was a like population of only 6,000,000. In other respects, important to civil- 
ization, the disparity was as great. And yet, from the beginning, they have 
taken to themselves the lion's share among the honors and trusts of the Ilepub- 
tic. But, without exposing the game of political " sweepstakes,'' which the 
Slave Oligarchy has porpetually played — interesting as it would be — I prefer 
to hold up for one moment the aggressions and usurpations by which, in defi- 
ance of the Constitution, it has made Slavery national, when it is in reality 
aectional. Here is a brief catalogue : 

Early in this century, when the District of Columbia was finally occupied 
BS the national capital, the Slave Oligarchy succeeded, in defiance of the 
spirit of the Constitution, and even of the express letter of one of its amend- 
ments, in securing for Slaver}-, within the District, the countenance of the 
National Government. Until then. Slavery had existed nowhere within the 
exclusive jurisdiction of this Government. 

The Slave Oligarchy next secured for Slavery another recognition under the 
National Government in the broad Territery of Louisiana, purchased from 
France. 

The Slave Oligarchy next placed Slavery again under the sanction of the 
National (Joverninent, in the Territory of Florida, purchased from Spain. 

The Slave Oligarchy, waxing powerful, was able, after a severe struggle, 
to dictate terms to the National Government in the Missouri Compromise, 
compelling it to receive that State into the Union with a slaveholdiiig Consti- 
tution. 

The Slave Oligarchy instigated and carried on a most extensive war in 
Florida, inaiidy to recover fugitive slaves — tiius degrading the army of the 
United States to be Slave-Hunters. 

The Slave Oligarchy wrested from Mexico the Province of Texas, and, tri- 
ami)hing over all opposition, finally secured its admission into the Union, with 
a Constitution making Slavery i)erpetual. 

The Slave Oliganliy plunged the country in war with Mcxirt), in unlev to 
gain new lands for Slavery. 

The Slave Oligarchy, with (he meanness as well as the insolence of tyranny, 
has compelled the iNational Government to abstain from acknowledging the 



7 

qieighlcor Republic of Ilayti, where slaves hare become freemen, and established 
an independent nation. 

The Slave Oligarchy has compelled the National Government to stoop igno- 
bly before the British Queen, to secure compensation for slaves, who, in the 
exercise of the natural rights of man, had asserted and achieved their freedom 
on the Atlantic Ocean, and afterwards sought shelter in Bermuda. 

The Slave Oligarchy has compelled the National Government to seek to 
negotiate treaties for the surrender of fugitive slaves— thus making our Repub- 
lic assert abroad, in foreign lands, property in human flesh. 

The Shive Oligarchy has joined in declaring the foreign slave trade pn-acy, 
but insists on the coastwise slave trade, under the auspicies of the National 
Government. 

The Slave Oligarchy for several years rejected the petitions to Oongress 
adverse to Slavery— thus, in order to shield this wrong, practically denying the 
right of petition. inn 

The Slave Oligarchy, in defiance of the privileges secured under the Con- 
stitution of the United States, imprisons the free-colored citizens of Massachu- 
setts, and sometimes sells them into bondage. 

The Slave Oligarchy insulted and exiled from Charleston and New Orleans 
the honored representatives of Massachusetts, who were sent to those places, 
with the commission of the Commonwealth, in order to throw the shield of the 
Constitution over her colored citizens. 

The Slave Oligarchy bas, by the peji of Mr. Calhoun, as Secretary of State, 
in formal de*ipatches, made the Republic stand before the nations of the earth 
as the vindicator of Slavery. 

The Slave Oligarchy has put forth the hideous effrontery, that Slavery can 
go to all newlj-acquired territories, and enjoy the protection of the national 

flag. ^ f. 

The Slave Oligarchv has imposed upon the country an act ot Oongress, tor 
the recovery of fugitive slaves, revolting in its requirements, and many times 
unconstitutional— especially on two grounds : first, as a usurpation by Congress 
of powers not granted by the Constitution, and an infraction of rights secured 
to the States ; and, secondly, as a denial of Trial by Jury, in a question of 
Personal Liberty, and a suit at common law. 

Such, Fellow-Citizens, are some of the aggressions and usurpations of the 
Slave Oligarchy ! By such steps, the National Government has been perverted 
from its original purposes, its character changed, and its powers all sur- 
rendered to Slavery. Surely, no patriot soul can listen to this recital, with- 
out confessing that our first political duty is, at all hazards and without com- 
promise, to oppose this Oligarchy, to dislodge it from the National Govern- 
ment, and to bring the administration back to that character which it enjoyed 
when first organized under Washington, himself an Abolitionist, and sur- 
rounded by Abolitionists, while the whole country, by its Church, its Colleges, 
its Literature, and all its best voices, wns united against Slavery, and the 
national flag nowhere within the national territory covered a single slave. 

Fellow-Citizens, I have said enough to stir j-ou ; but tiiis humiliatiug tale 
is not yet finished. An Oligarchy seeking to maintain an outrage like Slavery, 
iind drawino- its inspiration from this fountain of Avickedness, is naturally 
base, false, .and heedless of justice. It is vain to expect that men, whohave 
screwed themselves to become the propagandists of this enormity, will be 
restrained by any compromise, compact, bargain, or plighted faith. As the 
less is contained in the greater, so there is no vileness of dishonesty, no denial 
of human rights, that is not plainly involved in the support of an institu-.' 
tion which beoins by changing man created in the image of God^mto a chat- 
tel and sweeps little children away to the auction-block. A power which 
Heaven never gave, can be maintained only by means which Heaven can never 
sanction. And this conclusion of reason is confirmed by late experience; and 
here I approach the special question under which the country now shakes 
irom side to side. The protracted struggle of 1820, known as the Missouri 



Question, ended with the admission of Missouri as a slaveholding State, and 
the prohibition of Slavery in all the remaining territory, west of the Mississippi 
and north of 36° 30'. Here was a solemn act of legislation, called at the 
time a compromise, a covenant, a compact, first brought forward by the Slave 
Oligarchy, vindicated by it in debate, finally sanctioned by its votes, also 
upheld at the time by a slaveholding President, James ]^Ionroe, and his Cabi- 
net — of whom a majority were slaveholders, including Mr. Calhoun, himself — 
and made the condition of the admission of Missouri, without which thai 
St;ite could not have been received into the Union. Suddenly, during the last 
year — without any notice in the press or the prayer of a single petition — after 
an acquiescence of thirty-three j-cars. and the irreclaimable possession by the 
Slave Oligarchy of its special share in the provisions of this Compromise — in 
violation of every obligation of honor, compact, and good neighborhood — and 
in contemptuous disregard of the out-gushing sentiments of an aroused North, 
this time-honored Prohil)ition, in itself a Landmark of Freedom, was overturned, 
and the vast region, now known as Kansas and Nebraska, was opened to 
Slavery ; and this was done under the disgraceful lead of Northern politicians, 
and with the undisguised complicity of a Northern President, forgetful of Free- 
dom, forgetful also of his reiterated pledges, that during his administration the 
repose of the country should receive no shock. 

And all this was perpetrated under pretences of popular rights. Freedom 
was betrayed by a kiss. In defiance of an uninterrupted prescription down 
to our day — early sustained at the South as well as the North — leaning at 
once on Jefferson and Washington — sanctioned by all the authoritative names 
of our history, and beginning with the great Ordinance by whic^ Slavery was 
prohibited in the Northwest — it was pretended that the people of the United 
States, who are the proprietors of the national domain, and who, according 
to the Constitution, may " make all needful rules and regulations " for its 
government, nevertheless were not its sovereigns — that they had no power to 
interdict Slavery there ; but that this eminent dominion resided in the few 
settlers, called squatters, whom chance or a desire to better their fortunes 
first hurried into these places. To this precarious handful, sprinkled over 
immense spaces, it was lef^, without any constraint from Congress, to decide, 
whether into these vast unsettled lands, as into the veins of an infant, should 
be poured the festering poison of Slaveiy, destined, as time advances, to show 
itself in cancers and leprous disease, or whether thej' should be filled with all 
the glowing life of Freedom. And this great power, transferred from Con- 
gress to these few settlers, was hailed by the new-fangled namp of Squatter 
Soxycreignty. 

It was fit that the original outrage, perpetrated under such pretences, should 
be followed by other outrages, perpetrated in defiance of these pretences. In 
the race of emigration, the Freedom-loving freemen of the North promised to 
obtain the ascendency, and, in the e.vercise of the conceded sovereignty of the 
.seltler.5, to i)rohibit Slavery. The Slave Oligarchy was aroused to other 
efforts. Ofcour.?e, it stuck at nothing. On the day of election, when this 
vauntt-d poi)ular sovereignty was first invoked, hirelings from Misso\iri, having 
no home in the Territory, entered it in bands of fifties and hundreds, and, 
assuming an electoral franchise to which they had no claim, trampled under 
foot the Constitution and Laws. Violently, ruthlessly, the jjoIIs were pos- 
Bcssed by these invaders. The same Northern President, who did not shrink 
from uublushing complicity in tlio original outrage, now assumed another 
complicity. Though jiromjit to lavish the Treasury, the Army and the Navy 
of the Republic, in hunting a single slave through the streets of Poston, he 
could see the Constitution and laws which he was sworn to protect, and those 
pojiular rights which he had affected to promote, all struck down in Kansas, 
and then give new scope to these invaders by the removnl of the fiiithful 
Governor — who had become obno.xious to the Slave Oligarchy beiause he 
would not become their tool — and the substitution of anotlier, who vindicated 
the dishonest choice by making haste, on his first arrival there, to embrace 



9 

the partisans of Slavery. The Legislature, which was constituted by the 
overthrow of the electoral franchise, proceeded to overthrow every safeguard 
of Freedom. At one swoop, it adopted all the legislation of Missouri, including 
its Slave Code ; by another act it imposed unprecedented conditions upon 
the exercise of the electoral franchise, and by still another act it denounced 
^Q punishment of death no less than five times against as many different forms 
of interference with the alleged property in human flesh, while all who only 
write or speak against Slavery are adjudged to be felons. Yes, Fellow-Citizens, 
should any person there presume to print or circulate the speech in which I 
now express my abhorrence of Slavery, and deny its constitutional existence 
anywhere within the national jurisdiction, he would become liable under this 
act as a felon. And this overthrow of all popular'rights is done in the name 
of Popular Sovereignty. Surely its authors follow well the example of the 
earliest Squatter Sovereign — none other than Satan — who, stealing into Eden, 
was there discovered, by the celestial angels, just beginning his work ; aa 
Milton tells us, 

" him there they found 

Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve." 

Would you know the secret of this unprecedented endeavor, beginning with 
the repeal of the Prohibition of Slavery, down to the latest atrocity ? The 
answer is at hand. It is not merely to provide new markets for slaves, or 
even to guard Slavery in Missouri, but to build another slave State, and thus, 
by the presence of two additional slaveholding Senators, to give increased 
preponderance o; the Slave Oligarchy in the National Government. As men 
are murdered for the sake of their money, so is this Territory blasted in peace 
and prosperity, in order to wrest its political influence to the side of Slavery. 

But a single usurpation is not enough to employ the rapacious energies of 
our Oligarchy. At this moment, while the country is pained by the heartless 
conspiracy against Freedom in Kansas, we are startled by another efl'ort, 
^^hich contemplates, not merely the political subjugation of the National Gov- 
ernment, but the actual introduction of Slavery into the free States. The 
vaunt has been made, that slaves will yet be counted in the sacred shadow of 
the monument on Bunker Hill, and more than one step has been taken towards 
this effrontery. A person of Virginia has asserted his right to hold slaves in 
New York on the way to Texas ; and this claim is still pending before the 
highest judicial tribunal of the land. A similar claim has been asserted in 
Pennsylvania, and thus far been sustained by the Court. A blameless citizen, 
who, in obedience to his generous impulses, and in harmony with the received 
law, merely gave notice to a person held as a slave in a free State, that she 
was in reality free, has been thrust into jail, and now, after the lapse of 
months, still languishes there, the victim of this pretension ; while — that no 
excess might be wanting in the madness of this tyranny — the great writ of 
Habeas Corpus, proudly known as the writ of deliverance, has been made the 
instrument of his imprisonment. Outrage treads upon outrage, and great 
rights pass away to perish. Alas ! the needful tool for such work is too easily 
found in places high and low — in the alleys and cellars of Boston— on the 
bench of the Judge — in the chair of the President. But it is the power behind 
which I arraign. The Slave Oligarchy does it; the Slave Oligarchy does it all. 

To the prostration of this Oligarchy you are bound by a three-fold cord of 
duty : first, as you would secure Freedom for yourselves ; secondly, as you 
would uphold Freedom in distant Kansas ; and, thirdly, as you would preserve 
the Union in its early strength and integrity. The people of Kansas are many 
of them from Massachusetts — bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh ; but, as fel- 
low-citizens under the Constitution, they are bound to us by ties which we 
cannot disown. Nay, more : by the subtle cord which connects this embryo 
settlement with the Republic, they are made a part of us. The outrage which 
touches them, touches us. What galls them, galls us. The fetter which binds 
the slave in Kansas, binds every citizen in Massachusetts. Thus are we prompt- 
ed to tlieir rescue, not onlj- to save them, but also to save ourselves. The 



10 ' 

tyranny which now treads them down, has already trampled on u«, and only 
awaits an opportunity to do it again. In its complete overthrow is the only 
way of safety. Indeed, this must lie done before anything else can be done. 
In vain you seek economy in the Government, improvement of rivers and har- 
bors, or dignity and peace in our foreign relations, while this Tower holds the 
national purse and the national sword. Prostrate the Slave Oligarchy, and 
the door will be wide open for all generous reforms. Oh I the imagination 
loses itself in the vain endeavor to picture the good that will be then accom- 
plished. Prostrate the Slave Oligarchy, and Liberty will become the universal 
law of all the national Territories ; Slavery will ceass at once in the national 
capital ; the slave trade will no longer skulk along our coasts, beneath the 
national Hag ; and the wickedness of the Fugitive Slave Bill will be driven 
from the statutojjook. Prostrate the Slave Oligarchy, and the National Gov- 
ernment will be at length divorced from Slavery, and the national policy Avill 
be changed from Slavery to Freedom. Prostrate the Slave Oligarchy, and the 
North will no longer be the vassal of the South. Prostrate the Slave Oligarchy, 
and the North will be admitted to its just share in the trusts and honors of the 
Republic. Prostrate the Slave Oligarchy, and you will possess the master-key 
with which to unlock the whole house of bondage. Prostrate the Slave Oli- 
garchy, and the gates of emancipation will be open at the South. 

To this work, Fellow-Citizens, you are now summoned. By your votes you 
are to declare, not merely your predilection for men, but your devotion to prin- 
ciples. Men are erring and mortal. Principles are steadfast and immortal. 
Forgetting all other things — especially forgetting men — you are to cast your 
votes so as best to promote Freedom. 

But in the choice of men we are driven to the organization of parties ; and 
here occurs the practical cjuestion on which hinges oiir immediate duty. By 
what political party can our desire be accomplished? There are individuals 
in all the parties, even the Democratic, who hate Slavery, and say so; but a 
political party cannot be judged by the private opinions of some of its mem- 
bers. Something else more solid and tangible must appear. The party that 
we select, to bear the burden and honor of our great controversy, must bo 
adapted to the work. It must be a perfect machine. Wedded to Freedom for 
better or for worse, and cleaving to it with a grasp never to be unloosed, it 
must be clear, open, and unequivocal, in its declarations, and must admit no 
other (}uestion to divert its energies. It must be all in Freedom, and, like 
Cajsar's wife, it must be above suspicion. But besides this character which it 
must sustain in Massachusetts, it mu.-t be prepared to take its jilace in dose 
phalanx with the united masses of the North, now organizing through all the 
free Shiies, jiinc((rgue nmf/one phalaiiffes, for the protection of Freedom, and the 
overthrow of the Slave Oligarchy. 

Bearing these conditions in mind, there are three parties which we may dis- 
miss, one by one, as they pass in review. Men do not gather grapes from 
thorns, nor figs from thistles; nor do tliey expect patriotism from Benedict 
Arnold. A party which sustains the tyrannies and perlidies of tlie Slave Oli- 
garchy, and is represented by the President through whom has come so much 
of all o\ir woe, need not occupy our time; and sucli is the Democratic party. 
If there be within the sound of my voice a single per.son, who, professing sym- 
pathy with Freedom, still votes with this part}', to him I would sny : The 
name of Democrat is a tower of strength ; let it not be a bulwark of Slavery; 
for tiie sake of a name, do not .'^ucrilice a thing ; fur the sake of a party, do not 
eurrender Freedom. 

According to a familiar rule, handed down from distant nntifiuity, we are 
to say nothing Inil good of the dead. How, tlien, shall I speak of the late pow- 
erful AN'iiig |iarly — by whose giant contests the whole country was once 
upheavcil — Init which has now ceafed to e.xist, except as the shadow of a 
name? Here in .Mas.=achusetts, a few, who do not yet know that it is dead, have 
met together and proffered their old allegiance. They are the Hip Van Win- 
kles of yur politics. This respectable character, falling asleep -in the nioua* 



11 

tains, drowsed undisturbed tliroughout the whole war of the Revolution, and, 
then returning to his native village, ignorant of all that had passed, proposed 
to drink the health of King George. But our Whigs are less tolerant and 
urbane than this awakened Dutchman. In petulant and irrational assump- 
tions they are like the unfortunate judge, who, being aroused from his slum- 
bers on the bench by a sudden crash of thunder, exclaimed, " Mr. Crier, stop 
the noise in Court." The thunder would not be hushed ; nor will the voice of 
Freedom, now reverberating throughout the land. Some there are among 
these who openly espouse the part of Slavery, while others, by their indiffer- 
ence, place themselves in the same unhappy company. If their position at this 
moment were of sufficient importance to justify grave remark, they should be 
exhibited as kindred in spirit and isolation to the Tories of our Revolution, 
or at least as the Bourbons of Massachusetts — always claiming everything, 
learning nothing, forgetting nothing, and at last condemned b}^ an aroused 
people for their disloyalty to Freedom. 

That no person who truly loves Freedom may join this company, tempted 
by its name, its music, and its banners, I now read the language of welcome 
and sympathy, addressed to them by a distant journal, the St. Louis Repub- 
lican, a paper which has sustained the Kansas and Nebraska Bill, and the 
worsfc outrages which have followed. The article is entitled, " A Bugle Note 
from the Right Quarter ; " and after saying that " the Whig Spirit is up in 
Massachusetts," proceeds to say : 

"When we see Stevensou and Hillard and Walley, and hosts of such men, consulting 
togetlier for the public good; and Wintiirop and ClioatB and Wasiihuni, and others, deliber- 
ately ])utting upon record their approval of the movement, ajid their condemnalion of a 
geographical parly, we cannot doubt the regeneration ol" Massachusetts." 

After this commendation of our Whig brethren, the same paper proceeds in 
its next article to express its sympathy with what it calls " the Pro-Slavery 
men of Kansas." 

There is still another party, which claims your votes, but permit me to say, 
at this ci'isis, with small pretence. I am at a loss to determine the name by 
which it may be properly called. It is sometimes known as the Know Nothing 
party ; sometimes as the American party ; but it cannot be entitled to these 
designations — if they be of any value — for it does not claim to belong to the 
organization which first assumed and still retains them. It is an isolated 
combination, peculiar to Massachusetts, which, while professing certain polit- 
ical sentiments, is bound together by the support of one of the candidates for 
Governor. At this moment, this is its controlling idea. It is therefore a 
personal party , and I trust that I shall not be considered as departing from that 
courtesy which is with me a law, if I say that, in the absence of any appro- 
priate name, expressive of principles, it may properly take its designation i'rom 
the candidate it supports. It is not a party of Whigs, Democrats, Hunkers, or 
Free-Soilers ; but it is a party of Gardnerites. 

Of course, such a party wants the first essential condition of the organization 
which we seek. It is a personal pariy, whose controlling idea is a predilection 
for a man, and not a principle. Whatever may be the private sentiments of 
some of its members, clearly it is not a pany wedded to Freedom for better 
and for worse, and cleaving to it with a grasp never to be unloosed. While 
professing opposition to Slavery, it also arraigns Catholics and foreigners, and 
allows the question of their privileges to disturb its energies. It is not all in 
Freedom ; nor is it, like Caesar's wife, above suspicion. Besides, even as a 
party of Freedom, it is powerless from its isolation; for it stands by itself, and 
is in no way associated with that great phalanx now rallying throughout the 
North. In this condition, should it continue to exist, it will, in the coming 
Presidential contest, from natural affinity lapse back into the American party 
of the country, which is ranged on the side of Slavery. Of course, as a 
separate party, it is necessarily short-lived. Cut off from the main body, it 
va'AJ still show a brief vitality, as the head of a turtle still bites for some dayg 



12 

after it is severed from tlie neck ; but it can have no permanent existence. 
Surely this is not the party of Freedom whicli we seek. 

But the incompetency' of this party, as the organ of our cause, is enhanced 
by the uncongenial secrecy in which it had its origin, and yet shrouds itself. 
For myself, let me say, that on the lioor of the Senate I have striven, by vote 
and speech, in conjunction with my distinguished friend, Mr. Chase, for the 
limitation of the secret sessions of that body, under shelter of which so much 
of the business of the nation is transacted ; and 1 have there presented, as a 
fit model for American institutions, the example of that ancient Roman, 
who bade his architect so to construct his house, that his guests and all that 
they did might be seen by the world. What 1 have urged there I now urge 
here. But the special aims which this party proposes seem to be in harmony 
with the darkness in which it begins. Even if justifiable on any grounds of 
public policy, they should not be associated with our cause ; but I am unwill- 
ing to allude to them without expressing my frank dissent. 

It is proiiosed to attaint men for their religion, and also for their birth. If 
this oliject can prevail, vain are the triumphs of Civil Freedom in its many 
hard-fought fields ; rain is that religious toleration which we all profess. The 
fires of Smithfield, the tortures of the Inquisition, the proscriptions of non- 
conformists, may all be revived. It was mainly to escape these outrages, 
dictated by a dominant religious sect, that our country was early settled, in 
one place by Quakers, who set at naught all forms ; in another by Puritans, 
who disowned bishops ; in another by Episcopalians, who take their name 
from bishops ; and in yet another by Catholics, who look to the Pope as their 
Spiritual Father. Slowly among the struggling sects was evolved the great 
idea of the Equality of all men before the law, without regard to religious 
belief; nor can any party now organize a proscription merely for religiou* 
belief, without calling in question this unquestionable principle. 

But Catholics are mostly foreigners, and, on this account, are condemned. 
Let us see if there be any reason in this; and here indulge me with one word 
on foreigners. 

Willi the ancient Greeks a foreigner was a barbarian^ and with the ancient 
Romans he was an enemy. In early modern times, the austerity of this judg- 
ment was relaxed ; but, under the influence of feudalism, the different sover- 
eignties, whether provinces or nations, were kejjt in a condition of isolation, 
from which they have been gradually passing, until now, when the provinces 
are merged iuto nations, and nations are giving signs that they too will yet 
commingle into one. In our country, another example is already displayed. 
From all nations, i)eople commingle here. As in ancient Corinth, by the 
accidental fusion of all metals, accumulated in the sacred temples, a peculiar 
metal was produced, better than any individual metal, even silver or gold, 
80 perhaps, in the arrangements of Providence, by the fusion of all races here, 
there taay be a better race than any individual race, even Saxon or Celt. 
Originally settled from England, the Republic has been strengthened and 
enriched liy generous contributions of population from Scothuul, Ireland, 
Switzerland, Sweden, France, and (lermany ; and the cry is still they come. 
At DO time since the discovery- of the New W^orld, has the army of emigrants 
pressed so strongly in this direction. Nearly half a million are annually 
landed on our shores. The manner in which they shall be received is one 
of the problems of our national policy. 

All will admit that any intiuenco which they may bring, hostile to our 
institutions — calculated to suljstitute jiriestcrad for religion, and bigotry for 
Christianity — must be deprecated and opposed. All will admit, too, that 
there must be some assurance of their j)urpose to bucome not merely con- 
sumers of the fruits of our soil, but useful, loyal, and jicrnianent members of 
our couimunily, ui)holdcr3 of the general welfare. With this simiile exjilana- 
tion, 1 am not disposed to place any check upon tlie welcome to tbrcigucrs. 
There are our broad lands, stretching towards the setting sun ; let them come 
and take them. Uurselves the children of the Pilgrims of a fornuT genera- 



13 

tion, let us not turn from the Pilgrims of the present. Let the home, founded 
by our emigrant fathers, continue open in its many mansions to the emigrants 
of to-day. 

The history of our country, in its humblest as Avell as its most exalted 
spheres, testifies to the merits of foreigners. Their strong arms have helped 
furrow our broad territory with canals, and stretch in every direction the iron 
rail. They have filled our workshops, navigated our ships, and even tilled 
our fields. Go where j'ou will, among the hardy sons of toil on land or sea, 
an^ there you will find industrious and faithful foreigners bending their mus- 
cles to the work. At the bar and in the high places of commerce you will find 
them. Enter the retreats of learning, and there you will find them too, shed- 
ding upon our country the glory of science. Nor can any reflection be cast 
upon foreigners, claiming hospitality now, which will not glance at once upon 
the distinguished living and the illustrious dead — upon the Irish Montgomery, 
who perished for us at the gates of Quebec — upon Pulaski the Pole, who died 
for us at Savannah — upon De Kalb and Steuben, the generous Germans, who 
aided our weakness by their military experience — also upon those great Euro- 
pean liberators, Kosciusko of Poland, and Lafayette of France, each of whom 
paid his early vows to Liberty in our cause. Nor should this list be confined 
to military characters, so long as we gratefully cherish the name of Alexander 
Hamilton, who was born in the West Indies, and the name of Albert Gallatin, 
who was born in Switzerland, and never, to the close of his* octogenarian 
career, lost the French accent of his boyhood — both of whom rendered civic 
services which may be commemorated among the victories of peace. 

Nor fs the expei-ience of our Republic peculiar. Where is the country or 
power which must not inscribe the names of foreigners on its historic scroll? 
It was Christopher Columbus, of Genoa, who disclosed to Spam the New 
World; it was Magellan, of Portugal, sailing in the service of Spain, who first 
pressed with adventurous keel through those distant southern straits which 
noyr bear his name, and open the way to the vast Pacific sea ; and it was 
Cabot the Venitian, who first conducted English enterprise to this North Amer- 
ican continent. As in the triumphs of discovery, so also in other fields have 
foreigners excelled. The Dutch Grotius, author of the sublime work, " The 
Laws of Peace and War," an exile from his own country, became the Ambas- 
sador of Sweden ; and in our own day, the Emperor of Russia has employed in 
the most exalted diplomatic trusts the Italian Pozzo di Borgo. In the list of 
raonarchs on the throne of England, not one has been more truly English than 
the Dutch William. In Holland, no ruler has equalled in renown the German 
William, Prince of Orange. In Russia, the German Catharine II takes a place 
among the most commanding sovereigns. And who of the Swedish monarchs 
was a better Swede than Bernadotte the Frenchman ; and what Frenchman 
was ever filled with aspirations for France more than the Italian Napoleon 
Bonaparte ? 

But I pass from these things, which have occupied me too long. A party, 
which, beginning in secrecy, interferes with religious belief, and founds a dis- 
crimination on the accident of birth, is not the party for us. 

It was the sentiment of that great apostle of Freedom, Benjamin Franklin, 
uttered during the trials of the Revolution, that, " Where Liberty is, there i? 
my country." In similar strain, I would s'ay, " Where Liberty is, there is my 
party." Such an organization is now happily constituted here in Massachu- 
setts, and in all the free States, under the name of the Republican party. 

In assuming our place as a distinct party, wc simply give form and direction, 
in harmony with the usage and genins of pop'-lar Governments, to a movement 
which stirs the whole country, and does not find an adequate and constant 
organ in either of the other existing parties. The early opposition to Slavery 
was simply a sentiment, out-gushing from the hearts of the sensitive and 
humane, 'in the lapse of time, it became a fixed principle, inspiring large 
numbers, and showing itself first in an organized endeavor to resist the annex- 
ation of slaveholding Texas ; next, to prohibit Slavery in newly acquired terri- 



14 

tories ; and now, al.irrncd by the overthrow of nil rights in Kansas, and the 
domination of the Shire Oligarchy throughont the Republic, it is aroused to a 
Btronger cfiVirt luid a wider union, insjiiring yet larger numbers and firmer 
resolves — even as the fountain, first out-gushing from the weeping sides of it's 
pure mountain home, trickles into the rill, and Hows into the river, till at last, 
swollen witli accumulated waters, traversing states, washing the feet of cities, 
proudly bearing a nation's commerce, it presses onward, forever onward, in 
irresistible beneficent current, to the open sea. 

Parties are tlie natural expression of a strong public sentiment, which scevks 
vent. As old controversies subside, the parties by which they have been cou- 
ductod mnst yield to others, which represent the actual life of the times. In obe- 
dience to this law, political parties in France and England— the only countries 
where these are known — have undergone mutations with time. In France, 
under the royalty of Louis Philippe, the small band of Republicans, feeble at 
first in number.^, and represented in the Legislature by a few persons only 
but strong in principles and purpose, rallied together, and at length prevailed 
over the old parties, until all were ccjually subverted by Louis Napoleon, and 
then- place supplied by the enforced unity of despotism. In Kngland, the most 
brilliant poi)ular triumph of her history— the repeal of the monopoly of the 
corn laws— was finally carried by means of a newly-formed but wide-spread 
political organization, which combined men of afl the old parties, 'Whigs, 
Tories, and Radicals, and put forward the single idea of opposition to the coirn 
laws, as its end and aim. In the spirit of these examples, the friends of Free- 
dom, in well-compacted ranks, now unite to uphold their cherished princi- 
ples, and by combined efforts, according to the course of parties, to urge them 
upon the Government and the country. 

Our party has its origin in the exigencies of the hour. Vowing ourselves 
against Slavery wherever it exists, whether enforced by the Russian knout, 
the Turkish bastinado, or the lash of the Carolina planter, we do not seek to 
interfere with it at Peteraburgh, Constantinople, or Charleston ; nor does any 
such grave duty rest upon us. Our political duties are properly limited by 
our political responsibilities ; and we are in no just sense responsible for 
the local law or usage by which human bondage in these places is upheld, 
Rut wherever we are responsible for the wrong, there our duty begins. 
The object to which, as a party, we are j.lcdged, is all contained in*' the 
acceptance of the issue which the Slave Oligarchy tenders. To its repeal 
of the Missouri Compromise, and its imperious demand that Kansas shall 
be surrendered to Slavery, we reply, that Freedom shall be made the universal 
law of all the national domain, without compromise, and that hereafter no 
slave State shall be admitted into the Union. To its tyrannical assumption 
of supremacy in the National Government, we reply, that the Slave Oligarchy 
shall be overthrown. Such is the practical purpose of the Republican party. 

It is to uphold and advance this cause, that we have come together, leaving 
the parties to which we have been respectively attached. Now, in the course 
of human events, it becomes our duty to dissolve the political bands which 
bound us to the old organizations, and to assume a separate existence. Our 
Declaration of Independence has been made. Let us, in the spirit of our 
Fathers, pledge ourselves to sustain it with our lives, our fortunes, and our 
sacred honor. In thus associating and harmonizing from oppo.site quarters, 
in order to jtromotc a common cause, we have learned to forget fonncr differ- 
ences, and to appreciate the motives of each other. AVe have learned how 
trivial are flic matters on which we may disagree, fompared with the Great 
Issue on which we all agree. Old prejudices have vanished. Fvcn the ran- 
cors of political antagonism have been changed and dissolved, as in a potent 
alembic, by the natural, irresistiltle aflinities of Freedom. In our union, we 
have ceased to wear the badges of either of the old organization.'^. AVc hare 
become a new party, distinct, inde|)eiident. permanent, under a new name, with 
Liberty as our wafcliword, .and our flag inscribed, " By this sign conquer." 
Our olgect la reasonable, consistent with the ("onstitiition, and required bv 



16 

just self-defence. And yet it is assailed from opposite quarters and by rarl' 
ous objections. 

It is even objected, that our movement is actually injurious to the very cause 
we seek to promote ; and this paradoxical accusation, which might naturally 
show itself among the rank weeds of the South, is cherished here on our free 
soil, by those who anxiously look for any fig-leaf with v,-hich to cover their 
indifference or tergiversation. This peculiar form of complaint is an old device 
which has been instinctively employed on other occasions, until it has ceased 
to be even plausible. Thus, throughout all time, has every good cause boen 
encountered. Even Wilberforce, when pressing the abolition of the slave trade, 
was told that those efforts by which his name is now consecrated forever- 
more, tended to retard the cause he sought to promote, even to the extent of 
riveting anew the chains of the slave; and, mentioning this great example, T 
may dismiss the objection to the contempt it deserves. 

With more pertinacity it is objected, that ours is a sectional party, and the 
significant words of Washington are quoted, to warn the country against 
" geographical " questions. This is a mere bugbear, with Vtdiich to disturb 
timid nerves. It is apart of the intolerable usurpation of the Slave Oligarchy, 
that the sectional institution of Slavery is exalted to be national in its char- 
acter, so that a National Whig is simply a Slavery Whig, and a National 
Democrat is simply a Slavery Democrat. According to the true interpretation 
of the Constitution, Freedom and not Slavery is national, while Slavery and 
not Freedom is sectional. Now, if the Republican party proposed any meas- 
ures calculated to operate exclusively ui>on any " geographical " section, oi" 
if it sought to direct the powers of Congress upon Slavery in the States, then 
perhaps it might be obnoxious to this charge ; but as it simply acts against 
Slavery under the National jurisdiction, and seeks to dislodge the Slave 
Oligarchy from their usurped control of the National Government, it is absurd 
to say that it is sectional. Our aim is in no respect sectional, ))ut in every 
respect national. It is in no respect against the South, but against the Evil 
Spirit at the South, which has perverted our national politics. As well might 
it be said, that Washington and Jefferson and Fi'anklin were sectional, and 
against the South. To all who are really against sedionaligm, I would say, 
What sectionalism so direful as that of Slavery? To all who profess to be 
against isms^ I would say. What ism so wretched as the ism of Slavery? If you 
are in earnest, join the national party of Freedom. 

Again ; it is objected that the Kepublican party is against the Union, and we 
are reminded of the priceless blessings which come from this fountain. Here 
is another bugbear. With us, the Union is not the object of mere lip-service \ 
but it is cherished in simple sincerity — as the aged Lear was loved by his only 
faithful daughter, " according to her bond ; nor more nor less." Our partv 
does nothing against the Union, but everything for it. It strives to guard 
those great principles which the Union was established to secure, and thus to 
keep it ever worthy of our love. It seeks to overthrow that baleful Oligarchy, 
finder which the Union has been changed from a vessel of honor to a vessel 
of dishonor. In this patriot work it will persevere, regardless of menace from 
any quarter. Not that I love the Union less, but Freedom more, do I now, in 
pleading this great cause, insist that Freedom, at all hazards, shall be pre- 
iuerved. God forbid, that, for the sake of the Union, we should sacrifice the 
sacred things for which the Union was made. 

And yet, again, it is objected that ours is a party of a single idea. This is a 
phrase, and nothing more. The party may not recognise certain measures of 
public policy, deemed by some of special importance ; but it does what is 
better, and what other parties fiiil to do. It acknowledges those beneficent 
principles, which, like the great central light, vivify all, and without which 
all is dark and sterile. The moving cause and the animating soul of our 
party is the idea of Freedom. But this idea is manifold in character and influ- 
ence. It is the idea of the Declaration of Independence. It is the great ides 
of the founders of the Republic. It is the idea Mdiich combined our fathers oB 
ihe heights of Bunker Hill ; which carried Washington through a seven years' 



LIBRARY or ^ 

"" ^'^ .CONGRESS 



war; wlijch inspired Lafayette: w a ""''I I > lijis ol 

Adams, Utis, :ind Patrick Henry. ^01l Qqj ^^ Me ;ind 

elevating; it is an idea wliich draws in its iruw. . 0*H g ^^ j ,,|j ^^g 




charities of life — all that makes earth a home of iniprovcmL-nl am* ... , fiiness- 

Her pjitli, wlieri-'iT (he u'odik'ss roves, 

(ilory pursues, and jreii«rous shame. 

T)ie uiit.oiiqiierul)le iniiid and Freedom's holy flams. , 

Thus do all objections disappear, e%X'n as the mists of morning before the 
*un rejoicing like a strong man to run his race. The Republican jjarty stands 
vindicated in every particular. It only remains that I should press the ques- 
tion wilh which I began — "Are you for Freedom, or are you for J^hivery?" 
As it is right to be taught by the enemy, let us derive instruction from the 
Oligarchy we oppose. The ;^17,000 slave-masters arc always united. Hence 
their strength. Like arrows in a quiver, they cannot be broken. The friends 
of Freedom have thus far been diviffed. They, too, must be united. In the 
crisis before us, it becomes you all to forget ancient feuds, and those names 
which h:'.ve been the signal of strife. There is no occasion to remember any- 
thing but our duties. MHien the lirc-bell rings at midnight, we do not ask if 
it be Whir? or })emocrat«. ProtP?trnts r>" Cfitholics, natives or foreigners, who 
join our ct'orts to extinguish, the Hamcs : nor do we ask any such question in 
selecting our leader, then. Men of all parties, Whigs and Democrats, or how- 
ever named, let me call upon you to come fonvard, and join in a common 
cause. Do not hesitate. When Freedom is in danger, all who are not for 
her are against her. The penalty of indificrence, in such a cause, is akin to 
the penalty of opposition ; as is well jjictured by the great Italian poet, when, 
among the saddest on the banks of Acheron — rending the air with outcries of 
torment, shrieks of anger, and smiting of hands — he finds the troop of dreary 
souls who had been cyphers only in the great conflicts of life: 

Minsrled with whom, of llieir di-.-'.'raoe the proof, 
Are the vile aiiifels, who did not rel:el, 
Nor kept llieir faith to God, but slood alvof. 

Come forth, then, from the old organizations ; let us range together. Come 
forth, all who have stood aloof from parties. Here is an opportunity for 
action. You who place principles above men, come forward ! All who feel 
in any Avay the wrong of Slavery, take your stand ! Join us, ye lovers of Truth, 
of Justice, of Himianity ! And let me call especially ui)on the young. You 
are the natural guardians of Libert}-. In your lirm resolves and generous 
souls she will find her surest protection. The young man who is not willing 
to serve in her cause — to suffer, if need be, for her — gives little promise of 
those qualities which secure an honorable age. 

Fellotc-Ciliscns, we found now a new party. Its corner-stone is Freedom. 
Its broad, all-sustaining arches are Truth, Justice, and Humanity. Like the 
ancient Roman Capitol, at once a Temple and a Citadel, it sluiM be the tit 
shrine for the genius of American Institutions. 



UlitCUL.VTE THE DOCUMENTS. 

The Rkplulican Association of Washington City have published in 
pamphlet fonn tlic following speeches; and, in order to give them as gcicral 
u circulation as possible, will send them at the following cheap rates : 

Speeches of William H. Seward at Albany and liull'alo, in one jiamphlct, 
at $2 iicr I'll) copies. 8[ieecli of William H. Seward, jit Albany, in tlie Ger- 
man language, $2 per lOO cojtie.*. Speech of Hon. (Charles Sumner, delivered 
in Fanetiil Hall, Boston, lid November, lf.'">.''i, .*?- per 100 copies. 

Tiie Association will also direct and mail them singly, free of postage, to 
such names as m.iy be furnished, at the above rates; or they will send them 
in paclaKjm, at the expense of the person ordering, at the verv low price of 
.$1.2:) per hundred copies. Address L. CLI-'lI'HANE, 

iifcrctarif of thi Republican Association, Washington, D. C. 

BUELL <k BL.VNCUAUn, flll.STKU.S, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



